I've never been
hit by such a paranoid sense of "I don't know what I'm talking about"
than when I decided to put this list together. And so, research,
research, research. I've spent weeks poring over galleries, reading up
on artists, and second guessing whether I really liked a poster, or if I
was just impressed by a poster, or maybe just nostalgic or familiar
with a poster. I started out knowing the names of exactly three film
poster artists: John Alvin, Saul Bass, and Drew Struzan, and wound up
picking none of their works for the final list. Heck, none of the movie
posters currently hanging in my house made the list (which makes me
think it's time to redecorate).
The volume of
material was so vast, I did make some effort to include pieces
representative of different eras and from several different artists, but
let my own particular tastes dictate specific pieces. You can tell
that the '70s and '80s were my favorites. Entries are unranked and
ordered by date below:
"Fantomas" (Gino
Starace) - For more than a few of these entries, I was entranced with
the posters long before I became familiar with the films. So it was
with the master criminal Fantomas, an early figure of French cinema,
seen here looming over Paris in his domino mask and tuxedo. The
poster image was taken almost unaltered from the original "Fantomas"
novel cover, except the dagger in his hand was removed, signaling that
the film serial would be less lurid than the books.
"Metropolis" (Heinz
Schulz-Neudamm) - That Art Deco typography! Those Futurist buildings!
The angles, the lights, the robot woman! "Metropolis" isn't my
favorite of Fritz Lang's films, but the imagery is so powerfully
evocative of the cinema of the 1920s - of the whole era, really. What
film fan could resist? An original German one-sheet notoriously sold at
auction for $1.2 million in 2012, making this easily one of the most
expensive movie posters in existence, as well as one of the most
iconic.
"Gilda"
(Unknown Artist) - If I'm going to have a poster featuring a screen
siren, it's got to be Rita Hayworth. Hayworth posters have popped up in
film many times over the years, most notably in "Bicycle Thieves" and
"The Shawshank Redemption." There are many, many different "Gilda"
posters, and it was a close race between this version and the more
famous theatrical release poster that declares "There NEVER was a woman
like Gilda!" But here she's smiling, and that makes all the difference.
"The
Exorcist" (Bill Gold) - Now we're jumping ahead past several decades
and several graphic design eras to the '70s. There are a wealth of
great horror movie posters, but the amazingly subtle, atmospheric
black-and-white image of the priest arriving at a suburban house on "The
Exorcist" poster remains one of the most indelible of the genre. Bill
Gold is one of the unsung masters of movie poster design, with a
staggering seven decade career, and I think this may be the best thing
he ever did.
"Chinatown" (Jim
Pearsall) - I wanted a good noir poster, and somehow 1974's "Chinatown"
was the one I couldn't say no to. I love everything - the silhouette,
the line work, the coloring and the imagery. The elements are clearly
reminiscent of the classic noir of the '40s, but the style of the
illustration is much more common of the '70s. The one major flaw is
that the poster isn't very representative of the movie itself, but
rather seems to portray the kind of romantic notion of being a private
eye the film was keen to dispel.
"Raiders of
the Lost Ark" 1982 rerelease (Richard Amsel) - Of all the artists I
discovered while researching posters, Richard Amsel is my favorite.
There are so many of his posters that I remember fondly, and so many
that still make me light up. Amsel draws faces, and captures
personalities on paper like nobody else. There were too may good
options here, but I had to go with his second - and most famous -
"Raiders of the Lost Ark" theatrical poster. Other artists' Indy
posters are wonderful, but Amsel's are essential.
"Amadeus"
(Peter Sís) - This looks a bit like the "Fantomas" poster, doesn't it?
The image of the masked Commendatore from "Don Giovanni" is one of the
earliest I remember from any movie poster. I love the ominous,
mysterious tone this massive, dark figure sets, and the sweeping
theatricality of the poster design that serves as a nice prelude to the
film's legendary art direction. And it was such a wonderful
realization, the day I spotted the tiny Queen of the Night at the center
of the sunburst pattern.
"Brazil" (Unknown
Artist) - The winged warrior escaping from the filing cabinet is the
far more popular image associated with Terry Gilliam's "Brazil," but I
distinctly remember finding the VHS cassette for the movie at my local
Blockbuster sporting this poster as its cover art, and nearly whooped
out loud in the store. I just fell in love with the image
instantaneously, never mind that it was promoting a film. I regret I've
never been able to identify the artist, which is a far too common
problem with many of these posters.
"V for
Vendetta" (Concept Arts) - And now we enter the Photoshop era, wherein
poster art did not die an inglorious death, but it became a lot tougher
to find interesting pieces. Lots of good work came out of the 'V for
Vendetta" campaign, with its heavy Soviet propaganda influences. The
limited color palette and tilted axes really help the promos stand out
from the crowd. I like this poster in particular because it also
hearkens back to "Vendetta's" graphic novel roots, though the style is
quite different.
John Carter (J. C. Richard) - The
alternate poster trend has brought a welcome infusion of talent and
interest to the movie poster world. One of my recent favorites is this
poster for the deeply flawed "John Carter" movie, created by Mondo,
which was only distributed via a free giveaway for certain midnight
premieres. With barely any text or even a credit block, this looks like
a piece of concept artwork. It's also a complete and very welcome
departure from the rest of the film's much-criticized marketing
materials.
Honorable mentions: "The Kid" (Unknown Artist), "Le Million" (Jean-Adrien Mercier), "Gone With the Wind" (Tom Jung / Howard Terpning), "The Forbidden Planet" (Unknown Artist),
"Joe Kidd" (BIll Gold), "The Sting" (Richard Amsel), "Return to Oz"
teaser (Drew Struzan), "Star Wars" 1997 rerelease (Drew Struzan), "Where
the Wild Things Are" (P+A / Mojo), The Informant (Kellerhouse, Inc.)
---
No comments:
Post a Comment